The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Internet Outrage
Political polarization has become a big topic of discussion in recent years. The vast majority of Americans believe that the country is more divided than it has been at any other point in their lifetimes. Our distrust of the “other side” is also growing: the percentage of Americans who hold negative views about people with opposing ideologies has doubled in past decades.1
Given these statistics, it’s unsurprising that when UCLA researchers recently brought liberals and conservatives together for political conversations over Zoom, most participants expected their discussions to be filled with conflict.2
But they were wrong.
Participants reported less conflict during their conversations than they’d anticipated. Their discussions were more enjoyable and less stressful, and their discussion partners turned out to be more likable and logical than they’d imagined.
This raises the question: Why did these participants show up with such pessimistic expectations of the “other side”? What were they basing their judgments on?
References
- Yudkin, D., Hawkins, S., Dixon, T. (2019). The Perception Gap: How False Impressions are Pulling Americans Apart. More in Common. https://perceptiongap.us/media/zaslaroc/perception-gap-report-1-0-3.pdf
- Binnquist AL., Dolbier SY, Dieffenbach MC,. Lieberman, MD. (2022.) The Zoom Solution: Promoting Effective Cross-ideological Communication Online. PLoS ONE 17(7): e0270355. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270355
- Brady, W. J., McLoughlin, K. L., Torres, M., Luo, K., Gendron, M., & Crockett, M. (2022, September 19). Overperception of moral outrage in online social networks inflates beliefs about intergroup hostility. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/k5dzr
About the Author
Kaya Foster
Kaya Foster has over a decade of experience designing and implementing engagement programs and campaigns for nonprofits, community groups, and institutions of higher education. She is interested in how behavioral science can empower everyday people to make a difference, and guide organizations shaping public policy. Kaya is a graduate of the Sustainability & Behavior Change program at UCSD, a robust professional certification grounded in "Community Based Social Marketing", an internationally utilized approach to "selling" altruistic behavior adoption & encouraging community engagement. She also holds a B.A. from UCLA.
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